Oldham chief saved club after rowing Atlantic solo as Latics bid for EFL return

Daily Mirror

5 days ago

In the battle of clubs who beat the Grim Reaper, fearless eccentric Frank Rothwell reveals rowing 3,000 miles across the Big Pond and scaling Africa's tallest peak were simple exercises compared with his rescue mission at Oldham Athletic
People's champion Frank Rothwell is an intrepid eccentric who has rowed solo across the Atlantic twice in his seventies and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro.
But saving Oldham Athletic from oblivion has been his toughest gig - and now he is 90 minutes away from his rescue act's crowning glory. If they climb back into the Football League at Sunday's National League play-off final against Southend, in a battle of clubs who beat the Grim Reaper, it will be Oldham's first promotion for 34 years since the giddy days of Joe Royle's management.
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When the Latics chairman bought Oldham and adjoining land around Boundary Park for £12 million three years ago, he led a brass band down Sheepfoot Lane to the ground in a triumphal march - and he's been calling the tune ever since.
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Footage of Rothwell, in his flat cap, thanking all 399 travelling supporters for making a long-haul excursion to Braintree just before Christmas with a handshake almost broke the internet. A glorious snapshot of a chairman and his flock on the same page.
It's a far cry from the dark days of unlamented previous owner Abdallah Lemsagam's chaotic reign, culminating in coffins being carried to mark the death of the club, pitch invasions, boycotts and games being halted by cascades of tennis balls.
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And the 22,000 Latics fans making the pilgrimage to Wembley - where their hearts were broken by Mark Hughes' last-gasp equaliser for Manchester United in an FA Cup semi-final on their last visit in 1994 - will contain a special contingent.
'Most men of my age have a bucket list of things to do before the sun sets, but I haven't got one - I've been lucky in business, lucky in love and lucky in life,' said Rothwell. 'The only thing I want to do with the rest of my days is help to make Oldham a better place for everybody, and that doesn't just mean taking our football club back into the League.
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'We have a 30 per cent population of Asian heritage, and in the past either they have not embraced Oldham Athletic or, for one reason or another, the faces in our crowds have not been an accurate reflection of the town's community. But at Wembley, we will have two coachloads of supporters from a group called the Banglatics - new supporters from Bangladeshi origins - how cool is that? Just imagine if they spread the word and bring their friends next time.
'We are breaking down barriers in our town. Oldham Athletic is going to be a force for unity. The mayor is coming to Wembley, and our former manager John Sheridan is going to be sitting behind the goal with the punters, it's going to be magic.'
Rothwell has the common touch, like buying £20 worth of raffle tickets at a pre-season friendly with Barrow and handing them to a young girl attending the game with her grandmother. When the draw was made, she won £287. But it hasn't all been handshakes and a magic touch with raffles. Climbing Africa's highest peak and rowing 3,000 miles across the Big Pond were a piece of cake compared with the shell of a club he inherited.
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'Getting Oldham Athletic back on its feet has been the hardest one by far,' he said. 'The place was feeling a bit sorry for itself and its very existence was on the line. We were so close to extinction the coroner was on standby. When you climb up Kilimanjaro, how fast can you walk? Only as fast as the slowest member of your group.
'When you are rowing across the Atlantic, is it difficult? Yes, but I've done it twice, so it can't be that difficult. Is it dangerous? Yes, it's a bit dangerous if the boat rolls over and you get thrown into the sea. That happened to me, and I lost my heat and glasses, but if you prepare for these things, it's not a big deal. You think of everything that could go wrong and you have it covered.
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'If you're awake, you don't rest. You are either rowing, eating or sleeping. You mix your Pot Noodles with cold water - leave it for 20 minutes and the consistency is no different - and that's all there is to it. Lifting a football club out of hard times is much more difficult because you are not in control of everything.
'There had been no maintenance on the ground for goodness knows how long, so one of the first things we did was to bring in 200 kerbs and make it easier to come down the steps in the main stand. And the very first thing we did was to install a prayer room in the ground. If we want to attract more people of Asian heritage, we have to make sure they are catered for.'
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Micky Mellon's side have breezed through the play-offs so far, wiping out Halifax 4-0 and winning 3-0 at York, whose 96 points in the regular league season counted for nothing in the end.
Fortunately, the wet wipes who tried to cap both Oldham and Southend's ticket allocations at 17,500 each because Wembley Park Tube station will be closed have seen sense and raised the capacity to 50,000 fans. Extra trains will be running to Wembley Stadium and Wembley Central stations, but the ill-timed engineering works on the Underground will bring convoys of extra coaches descending on Wembley.
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How does that square with the Mayor of London's net zero agenda? And what did they make of the kerfuffle across town at Twickenham, where they regularly host 80,000 crowds at rugby internationals at a venue served by only one station?
Rothwell radiates positivity and is convinced a happy ending to a fraught week is imminent.
'I know nothing about football,' he claimed. 'I'm not an expert, but I employ experts. That's how you get on.'